Women Who Read Food Labels Weigh About 9 lbs Less, on Average

Need to lose a few pounds? Consider this – women who regularly read the nutritional information on food labels weigh about 9 pounds less, on average, than women who don’t.

Women who read nutritional information on food labels are
significantly less obese than women who don’t.

That’s what an international team of researchers discovered
after analyzing data from the CDC’s National Health Interview Survey of more than
25 000 Americans.

Study Findings

On average, women who read food labels have a body mass
index (BMI) score that is 1.49 points lower than women who never read this
information (1.49 BMI points equals about 9 pounds for an average American
woman.)

There was only a very minimal difference in BMI scores
between men who read and did not read nutritional information

Urban women and those with a high school or higher education
were most likely to pay attention to nutritional information

Smokers are much less likely than non smokers to read nutritional
labels

Discussion – More Nutritional Information in Restaurants to
Increase Public Health

Lead study author María Loureiro commented on the
significance of the results, saying, "We know that this information can be
used as a mechanism to prevent obesity. We have seen that those who read food
labels are those who live in urban areas, those with high school and high
education. As we would hope therefore, campaigns and public policy can be
designed to promote the use of nutritional labeling on menus at restaurants and
other public establishments for the benefit of those who usually eat out."

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